Watershed Planning for Sustainable Water Resources in the Ohio River Basin

The Ohio River Basin is an ecologically-diverse hydrologic system covering 15 states and 528,357 square kilometers. The Ohio River contributes 60 percent of the flow in the Mississippi River at Cairo, IL. Over 2,600 incorporated communities and 548 counties administer various land use controls and programs for economic growth. The Corps' Ohio River Basin Comprehensive Reconnaissance Study identified numerous issues including aging public infrastructure with reliability concerns during extreme weather events, concerns for sufficient water supplies for at least 5 million people and optimum channel depths for the navigation industry - a $30 billion dollar industry along the Ohio River. Uncontrolled land cover change, deteriorating water quality, modified flows and lack of stormwater management pose significant threats to the ecology and economy of the region. Using a watershed approach, the Corps has recommended a series of planning actions that will address the issues of sustainability, reliability and resilience of water resources in the basin.